After fracturing my elbow and spraining my wrist, I've now been told I can start running again, but not for another week! I have so missed it and every day I look up to the hills and feel they are calling me to get back up there.

I must admit to breaking into an extremely slow jog yesterday when I was out walking the dog, I just couldn't help it, and it only lasted a minute. I just wanted to make sure I could still do it!

So where should I start again? I will have been off running for nearly 4 weeks. I was thinking about week 5 of c25k, then there will be no pressure (I hope). I'm sure I should be able to manage it, and anyway, Laura will be there to hold my hand. I can't believe that on the day I fell I had done 8.5 km and was well into B210K. I was at the very top of the hills and on a complete high (literally and mentally), and then went and tripped to fall flat on my face.

Sometimes I've found myself wondering if it's worth the risk of starting again, and I've had several comments from people saying things like "well, what do you expect when you go running?" However, even though I know I will be nervous to start with, I'm sure going to do it!

I've been enjoying reading about everyone's progress, it's so motivating, comforting and sometimes very funny. And at least the sun's out and I have a good excuse for lazing about in the garden! (Or on the couch!!)

2 Replies

Hi Petal, lovely that you had a tiny, reassuring joggle while out with dog Of course you'll still be able to run ... Your body will remember how, even if your head has gone into 'forget' mode!

Please look after your elbow and wrist properly though, what seems like an absolute age is only necessary to make sure your bones and tendons etc are really completely healed and in the right place again ... for the rest of your life! .... so, in the overall scheme of things, a few more days is neither here or there. If everything doesn't heal completely/properly now, it will be a prime site for the start of arthritis when you are older ... And you don't want that in any kind of a hurry!

As for people who are so knowledgable that they delight in telling you that running accidents are bound to happen.... Oooooohhhh they make my blood boil! They too often talk from no knowledge or scientific base at all and think they are doing you a favour! Listen to your own body and mind, read all the genuine encouragement you can on here and other sensible websites. Of course you will get out there again ... Only a week to wait!

Your hills will still be there, and with luck the sun will still be out .... and you'll be able to resume your running wearing a lovely suntan which will develop in your last week of 'convalescence'. Probably the best way to go is to do a nice warm up walk, switch on some nice music and just launch yourself into a gentle run to see how far you can go before needing another walk. You don't need time constraints or distance objectives at the beginning ... Go, as they say, with the 'flow' of your body's capabilities and build gently back to where you were before your accident ... It may take a few weeks, but who cares?